This document updates the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Version 4.1 to match Version 4.2.

Changed the old Pathfinder Society Logo to the new logo.

Added a Table of Contents

Created page breaks for each new chapter to make it easier for coordinators to print separate sections.

Page 5: Added the following sentence: “The leadership of this campaign assumes that you will use common sense in your interpretation of the rules. This includes being courteous and encouraging a mutual interest in playing, not engaging in endless rules discussions. While you are enjoying the game, be considerate of the others at the table and don’t let your actions keep them from having a good time too. In short, don’t be a jerk.”

Page 5: Under Core Assumptions, added the following sentence: “Additionally, a GM should have a physical copy of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary and access to all books in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line of hardcover rulebooks. The content of these books can be found online for free as part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document located at paizo.com/prd.”

Page 5: Changed title of top right box from The Pathfinder Society Community to the Pathfinder Society webpage.

Page 5: Added the following subsection:
The Pathfinder Society Community
You may not simply ignore rules clarifications made by the campaign leadership, including the campaign coordinator and campaign developer, on the paizo.com messageboards. GMs are not required to read every post on the messageboards, but GMs familiar with rules clarifications made by the campaign leadership (which have not been superseded by the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play or FAQ) must abide by these clarifications or rulings. If it is a significant clarification, it will be updated in the FAQ, and later in the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play if necessary.

Page 6: At the end of Getting Started subsection, added the sentence: “You do not lose access to prestige points, boons, and items listed on the Chronicle sheet that were earned during the adventure” when advising about applying a Chronicle to a non-1st-level pregenerated character.

Page 7: Added the following about ages: “A character can not be younger than the minimum age listed on Table 7–1 of the Core Rulebook, or listed on Table 5–1 of the Advanced Race Guide, and must be younger than venerable, as listed on Table 7–2 of the Core Rulebook and Table 5–4 of the Advanced Race Guide. A character that ages past venerable, for whatever reason, dies of old age and is removed from the campaign. Characters do not alter their ability scores as a result of this choice.”

Page 7: Added three new races as available options for character creation under Step 2: Race and Class. It reads as follows: “You may also select Aasimar, Tiefling, or Tengu as your character’s race with access to the proper Additional Resources book.”

Page 8: Under Wizard, added the sentence, “Only items listed as Always Available may be selected as the free bonded object granted to a wizard at 1st level.”

Page 8: Added a new step titled Languages. Renumbered every step after to reflect this change.

Page 8: Under Step 5: Feats, removed the sentence “the Craft skill is not legal for play and.” Craft skill is sometimes used in faction missions and we did not want to confuse players. It still advises that the crafting feats, as well as crafting of mundane items is not allowed in PFS.

Page 9: Under Step 7: Traits, changed the name of Character Traits Web Supplement to Character Traits Web Enhancement.

Page 10: Added a subsection titled “1st-Level Character Retraining.”

Page 16: Changed the Weapon Style under Lantern Lodge to, “You gain proficiency with one weapon that has the monk special weapon quality (see page 145 of the Core Rulebook).”

Page 19: Removed the following paragraph: “With the introduction of five new factions in Season 3, player characters may change factions one time with no Prestige Point cost (though you still lose any faction-specific Prestige Awards). If such a change occurs, it must appear on the character’s first Chronicle sheet dated after August 4, 2011. All free faction changes must take place before the official start of Season 4 (August 16, 2012).”

Page 19: Season 4 faction goals added.

Page 21: Under Replaying Scenarios, the following paragraph was removed because it is redundant and incomplete, as well as being addressed under Game Master Rewards on page 30: “When you GM a scenario, you receive a Chronicle that you may apply to any character within the scenario’s tier that does not already have a Chronicle for the same scenario. That character receives the maximum XP, gold, and Prestige Points allowed for its subtier as if she had played through the scenario. Such a PC gains access to the equipment listed on the Chronicle sheet, but does not receive any of the special boons listed. If a PC to whom you apply credit falls between two subtiers, always grant the award for the lower subtier. “

Page 22: Under Step 1: Experience (XP), added the sentence, “You may not continue to play your character at the lower level once he has earned enough XP to gain a level.

Page 22: Under Step 2: Day Jobs, changed a sentence to read: “You may take 10 on a Day Job check, but you may not take 20 nor can you aid another.”

Page 23: Changed the paragraph in Step 4: Prestige to read as follows: “In each scenario, you have the opportunity to earn up to 2 Prestige Points. For scenarios with two faction missions per faction, you earn 1 Prestige Point for each faction mission completed. For scenarios with only one faction mission per faction, you earn 1 Prestige Point for completing your faction mission and 1 Prestige Point for completing the overall scenario mission. These numbers are halved for characters on the slow advancement track.”
Page 23–24: Moved the Conditions, Death and Expendables subsection from Chapter 6 to this page and combined it with the Death subsection.

Page 23–24: Added the following paragraph about diseases: “All diseases must be resolved at the table. The character will either be cured or dead. Diseases which result in a character’s ability score (aside from Constitution) being reduced to 0 must be cured or the character will become unplayable. An unplayable character should be marked as dead when reporting the session. See additional rules under Dealing with Afflictions in Chapter 7 of this document.”

Page 24: Under Conditions, Death and Expendables section, added the following sentence, “PCs who do not return to the realm of the living receive no XP, 0 Prestige Points, 0 gp, and no boons for the scenario in which they died.”

The following spells found in the Core Rulebook are not legal for play and may never be used, found, purchased, or learned in any form by PCs playing Pathfinder Society Scenarios: awaken, permanency, and reincarnate.
All spells and effects end at the end of a scenario with the following exceptions:
• Spells and effects with permanent or instantaneous duration that heal damage or remove harmful conditions remain in effect at the end of the scenario.
• Afflictions and harmful conditions obtained during a scenario remain until healed and carry over from scenario to scenario.
• A character may have one each of the following spells that carries overs from scenario to scenario: continual flame, masterwork transformation, secret chest, and secret page.

Page 26: Under Earning Prestige section, added the following, “Alternatively, beginning with Season 4, each faction has a specific goal it hopes to achieve by the end of the season. A PC who undertakes a creative approach to forward this goal outside of the prescribed faction mission may earn 1 Prestige Point for doing so in place of the Prestige Point gained for the assigned faction mission, at the GM’s discretion. See page 19 for details on all 10 faction goals for Season 4.”

Page 26: Under Benefits of Fame, added the following sentence, “For double weapons, calculate the cost of each end separately when considering Fame purchasing limits.

Page 27: Added clarification to what happens with a characters XP, prestige, and gold if a sanctioned module would advance them past level 12. It now reads, “If a character reaches 12th level by playing a sanctioned module, any XP beyond 33 points are lost prior to starting the Tier 12 scenarios/events. For each XP reduced, reduce the character’s total Fame and Prestige Points by 1, and the character’s total gp by 7,858.”

Page 27: Added the following sentence for clarification: “Characters that have already played in any part of the Eyes of the Ten arc receive XP retroactively. Thus, a character that has completed the arc will be 13th level and have 38 XP.”

Page 28: Changed Shirt Reroll title to Free Reroll title. Added the following text to that section: “If a player is using a physical copy of the Pathfinder RPG Player Character Folio, they receive a free reroll as if granted by a shirt. No player may receive more than one free reroll per session, even if wearing a shirt and using a folio.”

Page 28: Added Year of the Risen Rune, Venture-Lieutenant polo, and Pathfinder Society-exclusive volunteer shirts to the list of shirts eligible for shirt rerolls.

Page 29: Under Legal Pathfinder Society Characters, reworded the application of a Chronicle sheet when using a pregenerated character to align with the rules for scenarios. It now read as follows: “If you play a 1st-level pregenerated character, you may apply the credit from the pregenerated character played to a newly created character of your very own, with the gp gained reduced to 1,398 GP (or 699 for slow advancement track characters). If you play a non-1st-level pregenerated character, you may apply the credit to your character as soon as she reaches the level of the pregenerated character played.”

Page 29: Under Applying Credit, added the following sentence, “A player who uses a pregenerated character must apply the Chronicle sheet to a newly created 1st-level character or hold the Chronicle sheet until his character reaches the level of the pregenerated character.”

Page 32: Added a section on Free RPG Day Modules.

Page 32: Changed title of “Average Party Level” subsection to “Determing Subtiers” and reworded to reflect change of scenarios written for 6 characters instead of 4.

Page 34: Changed “If a Season 0 scenario has two faction missions per faction, consider one mission that of the faction and the other the overall success conditions for the scenario. As Season 0 scenarios are converted to Pathfinder RPG rules, the old scenarios will be brought in line with the current system and these faction mission differences will be eliminated.” to the following: “If a Season 0 scenario has two faction missions per faction, completing the overall scenario goal does not award a Prestige Point. Award 1 Prestige Point for each faction mission completed or 1/2 Prestige Point for characters on the slow advancement track.”

Page 34: Added the following sentence to the Table Variation subsection: “Scenarios are to be run as written, with no addition or subtraction to number of monsters, or changes to stats, feats, spells, skills or any other mechanics of the scenario. GMs may use other Pathfinder RPG sources to add flavor to the scenario, but may not change the mechanics of encounters.”

Page 34–35: Added the following sentence under Alignment Infractions subheading: “Characters who commit potentially evil acts (casting spells with the Evil descriptor, killing or maiming someone, etc.) while following specific orders from their faction or the Pathfinder Society, do not suffer alignment infractions. These are cases where karma applies to those making the orders, not their tools.”

Page 37, Step 4: Changed “...maximum of 2 Prestige Points for completing both her faction mission and the overall success condition of the scenario. A character on the slow advancement track can earn a maximum of 1 PP: 1/2 PP for completing her faction mission, and 1/2 PP for the scenario’s success condition.” to the follwing: “...maximum of 2 Prestige Points: 1 PP for each mission completed. A character on the slow advancement track can earn a maximum of 1 Prestige Point: 1/2 PP for each mission completed.”

Page 37, Step 8: Changed the sentence, “Additionally, the player must list any Prestige Awards his character gains by spending Prestige Points are recorded here.” to the following: “Additionally, this is where the player must list any Prestige Awards his character gains by spending Prestige Points.”

Page 38: Added “Note: Any diseases or afflictions a PC has obtained must be resolved at the table once the game ends as explained in Chapter 5 of this document. “

Page 38: Changed “The GM does not get any special boons...” to “The GM may select any special boons...”

Page 39: Added the following paragraph: “When you choose to take a Chronicle sheet for GM credit, you must decide which of your characters receives the Chronicle sheet when you fill out the tracking sheet for that table. You must apply Chronicle sheets in the order they are received. The only exception is when you hold a higher-tier Chronicle for a lower-tier character. In either case, you do not need to build the character until you actually play it.”

Page 39: Under Ordering Scenarios, changed “...released the last week of each month.” to “released the first week of each month.”

Page 40–42: Updated the text on page 40 and list of regional coordinator

Page 5: Under Core Assumptions, added the following sentence: “Additionally, a GM should have a physical copy of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary and access to all books in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line of hardcover rulebooks. The content of these books can be found online for free as part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document located at paizo.com/prd.”

"Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Race Guide
To create an aasimar, dhampir, fetchling ifrit, kitsune, nagaji, oread, sylph, tengu, tiefling, undine, or wayang character, you must have a Chronicle sheet that opens the race as a legal option at character creation."

Can you please remove aasimar, tengu and tiefling from this list on the next update?

"Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Race Guide
To create an aasimar, dhampir, fetchling ifrit, kitsune, nagaji, oread, sylph, tengu, tiefling, undine, or wayang character, you must have a Chronicle sheet that opens the race as a legal option at character creation."

Can you please remove aasimar, tengu and tiefling from this list on the next update?

Already done and all appropriate changes will be reflected in the next update of Additional Resources on Aug. 15.

First, off, Mike: Thanks for the changelog. This is one of the ways in which you have terrifically improved PFS play.

GtPSOP wrote:

Page 34–35: Added the following sentence under Alignment Infractions subheading: “Characters who commit potentially evil acts (casting spells with the Evil descriptor, killing or maiming someone, etc.) while following specific orders from their faction or the Pathfinder Society, do not suffer alignment infractions. These are cases where karma applies to those making the orders, not their tools.”

Does this karmic shift extend to the requirement that paladins who use poison (or lie, or otherwise break their oaths) need to atone to recover their divine powers?

First, off, Mike: Thanks for the changelog. This is one of the ways in which you have terrifically improved PFS play.

GtPSOP wrote:

Page 34–35: Added the following sentence under Alignment Infractions subheading: “Characters who commit potentially evil acts (casting spells with the Evil descriptor, killing or maiming someone, etc.) while following specific orders from their faction or the Pathfinder Society, do not suffer alignment infractions. These are cases where karma applies to those making the orders, not their tools.”

Does this karmic shift extend to the requirement that paladins who use poison (or lie, or otherwise break their oaths) need to atone to recover their divine powers?

Nope. Paladins are bound by a higher authority than a faction mission. They will still need to decide whether completing the faction mission is worth an atonement.

You haven't seen Blood of Angels then, I take it? There's a bunch of new versions of aasimar, including those that get +2 Str +2 Cha or +2 Dex + Cha instead of Wis and Cha. That's probably what Deussu is talking about.

where will (if all) a formal clarification of the issues raised around Flurry of Blows for monks be posted? Is that a future Errata? an addition to the Additional Resources? or an update to an FAQ somewhere?

Great set of changes - really looking forward to playing an Aasimar and will start thinking about Tengu concepts (already have a Tiefling)

where will (if all) a formal clarification of the issues raised around Flurry of Blows for monks be posted? Is that a future Errata? an addition to the Additional Resources? or an update to an FAQ somewhere?

Great set of changes - really looking forward to playing an Aasimar and will start thinking about Tengu concepts (already have a Tiefling)

When there is a formal clarification, it will be under the rule system at large and not just PFS.

Thanks Mike! Should I keep my aasimar boon or does it make a difference?

You can point to it and explain how you had an Aasimar before everyone else had one (kind of like paying $600 for an original iPhone when they came out, before everyone and their dog had a smartphone).

The Pathfinder Society Community
You may not simply ignore rules clarifications made by the campaign leadership, including the campaign coordinator and campaign developer, on the paizo.com messageboards. GMs are not required to read every post on the messageboards, but GMs familiar with rules clarifications made by the campaign leadership (which have not been superseded by the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play or FAQ) must abide by these clarifications or rulings. If it is a significant clarification, it will be updated in the FAQ, and later in the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play if necessary.

2 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the errata.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Michael Brock wrote:

Chris Mortika wrote:

First, off, Mike: Thanks for the changelog. This is one of the ways in which you have terrifically improved PFS play.

GtPSOP wrote:

Page 34–35: Added the following sentence under Alignment Infractions subheading: “Characters who commit potentially evil acts (casting spells with the Evil descriptor, killing or maiming someone, etc.) while following specific orders from their faction or the Pathfinder Society, do not suffer alignment infractions. These are cases where karma applies to those making the orders, not their tools.”

Does this karmic shift extend to the requirement that paladins who use poison (or lie, or otherwise break their oaths) need to atone to recover their divine powers?

Nope. Paladins are bound by a higher authority than a faction mission. They will still need to decide whether completing the faction mission is worth an atonement.

Follow up question;

Does this clarification of evil spells mean thoze characters who regularly use Infernal Healing spells risk removal from play?
That spell is marked with the evil descriptor.

It's simialar enough to a question about the [Evil] descriptor that I was going to ask.
It certainly seems to imply that if they aren't under specific orders from their faction or the Pathfinder Society that the do suffer alignment infractions. Another such case would be the use of Summon Monster to summon evil creatures.
So, do casters who summon [Evil] creatures suffer alignment infractions?

That's a lot of changes! I can only imagine how much work was involved.

A few notes:

Page 26: The final sentence of the section on Earning Prestige still talks about the single prestige point that can be earned on the slow track as if it were indivisible, unlike everywhere else in the guide where the possibility of earning half a prestige point arises.

Page 39: In the paragraph on Ordering Scenarios, delete the word 'more' in the phrase "... in order to run it more again."

Page 23: (Conditions, Death, and Expendables). Why does this section start with the clause "When playing your own character, ..."? I thought that this was true (for death, at least - I hadn't really considered other conditions) and had to be resolved even when playing a pregenerated character.

Page 22: The "Note:" about First Steps (in the Experience section) could be interpreted as implying that it would be OK to run First Steps on the slow advancement track if you didn't care about being 2nd level at the end. This confusion could be removed by simply deleting the last ten words ("in order to ...").

Page 39: Added the following paragraph: “When you choose to take a Chronicle sheet for GM credit, you must decide which of your characters receives the Chronicle sheet when you fill out the tracking sheet for that table. You must apply Chronicle sheets in the order they are received. The only exception is when you hold a higher-tier Chronicle for a lower-tier character. In either case, you do not need to build the character until you actually play it.”

What happens to existing characters with GM chronicles applied out of order? Flag as dead? Remove illegal chronicles and downlevel?

Page 39: Added the following paragraph: “When you choose to take a Chronicle sheet for GM credit, you must decide which of your characters receives the Chronicle sheet when you fill out the tracking sheet for that table. You must apply Chronicle sheets in the order they are received. The only exception is when you hold a higher-tier Chronicle for a lower-tier character. In either case, you do not need to build the character until you actually play it.”

What happens to existing characters with GM chronicles applied out of order? Flag as dead? Remove illegal chronicles and downlevel?

The above is set to go into effect on Aug. 16. Consider previous GM chronicles set and from Aug. 16 forward, you follow what is outlined.

Page 39: Added the following paragraph: “When you choose to take a Chronicle sheet for GM credit, you must decide which of your characters receives the Chronicle sheet when you fill out the tracking sheet for that table. You must apply Chronicle sheets in the order they are received. The only exception is when you hold a higher-tier Chronicle for a lower-tier character. In either case, you do not need to build the character until you actually play it.”

What happens to existing characters with GM chronicles applied out of order? Flag as dead? Remove illegal chronicles and downlevel?

I'm going to assume that the change is not meant to punish those that held GM credit and applied it unconsiously out of order.

With that assumption I'm going to further assume that there is an unspoken grandfather clause of some sort that anything done before date x is assumed to have fallen under the "old" rules and anything done after that date x is assumed to have been done under the new rules.

Page 5: Under Core Assumptions, added the following sentence: “Additionally, a GM should have a physical copy of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary and access to all books in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line of hardcover rulebooks. The content of these books can be found online for free as part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document located at paizo.com/prd.”

So wait, as a GM I now have to have all the hardbacks on me if I want to run a game and am at a place that doesn't have access to the internet?

And in addition even if I had a tablet for pdf copies of the books I'd have to have a physical copy of the bestiary and not just a pdf copy?

Wow. That sucks. I'm not even sure I'll be able to co-ordinate games anymore with that change in effect.

Page 5: Under Core Assumptions, added the following sentence: “Additionally, a GM should have a physical copy of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary and access to all books in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line of hardcover rulebooks. The content of these books can be found online for free as part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document located at paizo.com/prd.”

So wait, as a GM I now have to have all the hardbacks on me if I want to run a game and am at a place that doesn't have access to the internet?

And in addition even if I had a tablet for pdf copies of the books I'd have to have a physical copy of the bestiary and not just a pdf copy?

Wow. That sucks. I'm not even sure I'll be able to co-ordinate games anymore with that change in effect.

Just print the pages from the PRD that you will need to utilize as a GM.

Ok, so it's needed as a reference for scenarios in order to save words in writing the scenario, and not as a general reference for the GM in order to reference what the players are bringing to the table?

I guess I'm not understanding exactly what being a core assumption means, in the past I thought it meant that anything in it was free game for players because the GM was expected to have it. Which if that was the case then it would be hard for the GM to know what the players are bringing to the table to print out before the gameday.

What the addition of the PRD does for GMs is allow them to prepare the Scenarios for what is written in them, while saving development/layout time for Paizo. It is still the Player's responsibility to bring all the rules for thier individual character. After all, many of us don't play in areas with an internet connection.

Ok, so it's needed as a reference for scenarios in order to save words in writing the scenario, and not as a general reference for the GM in order to reference what the players are bringing to the table?

I guess I'm not understanding exactly what being a core assumption means, in the past I thought it meant that anything in it was free game for players because the GM was expected to have it. Which if that was the case then it would be hard for the GM to know what the players are bringing to the table to print out before the gameday.

Core assumption means that a scenario can assume you have access to the content from the book for referencing spells, stats, rules, etc. There isn't anything allowed for PCs out of Best 2/3 at this time, so really, just read through a scenario, find stuff referenced in those books and print out the PRD for those things and roll some dice!

Doing this can save several THOUSAND words per scenario. That lets authors put more cool stuff in with less referencing to lower tiers.

Just print the pages from the PRD that you will need to utilize as a GM.

Is the PDFs on my iPad still good for all the Core? Or do I now need to bring the physical books?

The point is scenarios are going to be written referencing rules from any of the hardcover books and you should be prepared to prep a scenario based on that assumption. So a scenario might be written using the vehicle combat or performance combat rules from Ultimate Combat and you would be expected to print those out from either a PDF or the PRD.

Page 5: Under Core Assumptions, added the following sentence: “Additionally, a GM should have a physical copy of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary and access to all books in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line of hardcover rulebooks. The content of these books can be found online for free as part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document located at paizo.com/prd.”

So wait, as a GM I now have to have all the hardbacks on me if I want to run a game and am at a place that doesn't have access to the internet?

And in addition even if I had a tablet for pdf copies of the books I'd have to have a physical copy of the bestiary and not just a pdf copy?

Wow. That sucks. I'm not even sure I'll be able to co-ordinate games anymore with that change in effect.

Just print the pages from the PRD that you will need to utilize as a GM.

I have to say, I'm a little confused as to the rationale for this. I can certainly understand that a GM should have access to the relevant Bestiary entries needed to run a scenario. But I run all of my games from my iPad. I don't have physical copies of anything except the Chronicle sheets and Faction handouts. I've never had a problem before with using the PDF of the Bestiary for looking up any relevant stats. So why is a physical copy now required? Is this just an oversight, or is there some reason why the Bestiary should be different?

I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm just genuinely trying to understand what prompted this change.

PS - I love some of the other changes, especially boons for GMs! And it looks like the new Guide is much clearer on some previously confusing subjects. Great job overall!